The lack of women in the upper reaches of government and the party was proof of the culture change needed, he added.

“We have perhaps yet to understand what change in the Conservative Party really means,” he claimed.

Monday’s coalition reshuffle was seen as an attempt to boost the proportion of female ministers in government and to promote more women to senior positions.

Among those to get promotions were Esther McVey, Jane Ellison and Nicky Morgan.

Top Tory Attack Party’s ‘Sexist’ Culture Sky News A senior Conservative MP has launched an attack on the sexist culture within his party, warning that it demeans female colleagues and alienates women voters.

Bernard Jenkin said in The House Magazine that “many of us Tory men tend to feel that women can deal with ‘women’s issues’, so men can get on with running the country”.

The Tory MP for Harwich and North Essex, who chairs the public administration select committee, said even David Cameron was guilty of “unconscious slights to women”.

Mr Jenkin told Sky News he could not exempt himself from such “condescension”.

Men sometimes ignored women without meaning to, he added, saying it was important to talk about the issue and correct each other.

This Is What A (Male) Feminist Looks Like Bustle Though male feminism is a divisive topic, I’m always enthused when men self-identify as feminists. The more men don’t publicly fear the feminist label, the more other boys and men will be able to stop seeing feminism as some sort of threatening, man-hating, matriarchy-promoting agenda. People like to say that making feminism friendly for men isn’t the point, and of course not. But making gender equality palatable to all of us is, or should be. …

Key jobs for female MPs in big reshuffle Eastwood Advertiser As the heavyweight political parties shuffled their packs this week, both Labour and the Conservatives turned to Eastwood and Kimberley’s female MPs.

On a day of movement on both sides of the House, Labour leader Ed Miliband promoted Eastwood politician Gloria De Piero to his Shadow Cabinet as the new Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.

Rival David Cameron broke new ground by making Broxtowe’s Anna Soubry, who serves Kimberley, the first female Member of Parliament to become a Minister of Defence (MoD).

She heads to the defence headquarters on the banks of the Thames from her previous position as a health minister.

Washington and Sunderland West MP Sharon Hodgson has been asked by Labour leader Ed Miliband to take on a wide-ranging role as a spokeswoman on women, families and equality issues.

Meanwhile, Houghton and Sunderland South MP Bridget Phillipson has been made a Labour whip, and there was a promotion for Sunderland Central MP Julie Elliott, who joined Labour’s frontbench shadowing the department for energy and climate change.

In her new role as Shadow Women and Equalities Minister, Mrs Hodgson will work with Ashfield MP Gloria De Piero on holding Government departments to account for the impact of policies and spending reductions, and to lead the Labour Party’s policy review on discrimination against and support for new mums.

The Conservative Party needs more women ministers to become … The Economist BY THE standards of the Conservative Party, October 7th was a good day for women. In his second ministerial reshuffle, David Cameron increased the number in his coalition government by four. He also made a couple of groundbreaking hires: sending Nicky Morgan to the Treasury, where there was no woman minister, and making Anna Soubry the first female defence minister. Yet this progress was a good deal less than the Tory prime minister once promised.

Athena SWAN gender equity charter spreads across sector Times Higher Education The mention of Athena SWAN at this year’s Conservative Party conference is a timely indicator of how far the once-tiny gender equity charter scheme has come and its growing influence within academia.

Having announced £200 million of new capital funding for teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, David Willetts, the universities and science minister, said he expected to see “evidence of commitment to equality and diversity” furnished by those making bids for the cash.

Half-naked FEMEN activists take on Spanish Congress euronews A group of three topless female activists from protest group FEMEN interrupted the plenary session of the Spanish Congress shouting “abortion is sacred”. During their protest the women took off their shirts revealing their breasts, now a trademark feature of FEMEN protests.

Animal welfare top concern for female activists online – above … Telegraph.co.uk ‘Animals’ is the top issue that women take action on at Change.org, the website which allows anybody to start or sign a petition, figures show. An analysis of the top five issues which matter most to women, conducted on behalf of Telegraph Wonder Women, puts animal welfare above basic human needs, with ‘human rights’ and ‘health’ fourth and fifth respectively. Criminal justice and economic justice are second and third place, the poll reveals.

World Bank report indicates US women still have a way to go to … The Castlegar Source Tuesday, World Bank released the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development. The United States is referred to many times, often as a benchmark to foster understanding of recent gains for women in other parts of the globe. At the same time, United States women still lag behind US men in a number of areas.

In 2012, the authors note women in the United States still face challenges economically and socially. They are represented disproportionately in certain professions like teaching and nursing. They are paid less than their male counterparts. Jobs traditionally held by women also result in lower wages for men who hold these jobs.

Libertarian Billionaires Paying For Daycare Won’t Bridge The … Forbes Women have long out-paced men in academia, yet they remain underrepresented in certain areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (commonly referred to as the STEM fields). Since STEM graduates not only have more job opportunities, but also higher paying jobs, many see boosting women’s participation in these disciplines as a key to reaching gender equality. There has been no dearth of public and private efforts to try to “solve” the problem. And the latest to get in the game is libertarian billionaire David Koch, who last week pledged $20 million to MIT to build a top-of-the-line childcare facility in an effort to attract and retain more women in the STEM fields.

Liberals and Economists Get the Female Fed Chair They Wanted The Atlantic Wire President Obama will announce his nomination for Federal Reserve chair today, and that person will be Janet Yellen, making her the first woman to hold the job. The months leading up to this nomination have been uncharacteristically divisive among liberals: Obama’s top pick, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, dropped out after commentators and Senate Democrats objected him. Now, Obama will bow to liberal Democrats, women’s groups, and economists by giving them the Fed chief they wanted.

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The UK Political Studies Association Women and Politics Specialist Group. Resource for researchers working on women and/or gender and for women in the PSA. The 2014 Specialist Group of the Year.
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